{Curtains For You play on Thursday, June 30, at the Columbia City Theater. Presented by Team Up for Nonprofits and KEXP, benefitting Art Corps! Doors open at 8:30pm, and Kelli Schaefer opens. $20 advance tickets, $25 at the door.}

They've played sold out gigs with The Head and the Heart and The Posies, where this five-piece "retro-pop" band snagged frequent raves from bloggers among the fan-thronged crowds; made the Top 10 band list in City Arts Magazine; and got KEXP play for their dizzying debut What A Lovely Surprise To Wake Up Here. But now Curtains For You are raising the stakes artistically, releasing an album as punchy and psychically provocative as Dear 23.

Somehow trimming off their more nostalgic musical tendencies for a timeless power pop sound, and adding a new invigorating and unusually sensitive approach to lyric writing, After Nights Without Sleep sounds like its title: That bizarre buzz of being up too long, and thinking too much, and not being able to settle down yet. It is bracing morning rock filled with overflowing emotions ("thick as bacon grease left out in the plan," from "Eggs Over Toast"), somehow as sobering and intoxicating as a triple espresso-infused Irish coffee drink.

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The Head and the Heart, Curtains for You and Lemolo slayed the pants off the sold-out show at Neumos this past Friday night, and we've got the pictures to prove it. HATH amazed, as per usual, and we couldn't have been prouder of our home-town showing of love for them. Curtains for You brought their best warmup, and Lemolo blew our minds with their two-girl show of achy post-White Stripes sound. All in all, an evening to remember, for sure.

Lemolo stealing the start of the show:

The Head and the Heart:

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Sweet Pacific Northwest!

We know this post's title show is sold out -- the Head and the Heart's headlining gig at Neumos has been out of tickets for weeks already -- but HATH is playing several shows regionally before they head out for tour, and it's our .02 that you should get yourself to at least one of them:

Thursday, 1/13 - Bellingham, WA @ The Green Frog
Friday, 1/14 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Saturday, 1/15 - Spokane, WA @ the Empyrean
Wednesday, 1/19 - Portland, OR @ the Doug Fir

Of course we're particularly excited about our hometown show, where we'll get to see one of our 2010 faves take the stage with Curtains for You and Lemolo. We'll have plenty of photos to post come Monday, so check back for a recap of the night!

{Keep an eye on the Neumos twitter feed to see if any tickets get released day of show! Photo courtesy of Robertsen Ashman, via the band's Facebook page.}

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This Seattle-based British Invasion-meets-Beach Boys five-piece initially got my attention by being named (probably coincidentally) the same as a title by one of the very best power pop bands of all time, The Only Ones. But Matthew and Mikey Gervais (guitar/lead vocals, guitar/sax vocals, respectively), Nick Holman (bass, something called a euphonium, vocals), Peter Fedofsky (piano/vocals), and drummer Dave Lawrence share more than that in common with Peter Perrett's legendary punk era quartet. Though Curtains For You may have never heard The Only Ones, both groups are deliciously excessive in using 60s melodies to swoon and soar some really dark shit they sing about. And the backing band action is cracking tight on retro riffs and rhythms.

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But ESPECIALLY come to the Tractor tonight to bid a fond farewell to Saundrah Humphrey, the amazingly talented violin/viola player who has spent the past few years playing with loads of local bands, including Math and Physics Club, Blue Checkered Record Player, and Bad Dream Good Breakfast.

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Easy Street Records have got a new late-night schedule of events called "After Hours" at their West Seattle location.

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